Powder Coatings

Powder coatings offer several advantages versus liquid coatings (solvent- / water-based). They offer higher resistance and durability. Particularly, powder coatings are more environmentally friendly and cost efficient.

Durability of powder coatings depends mainly on the resin system. A distinction is made between indoor and outdoor applications.

Powder coatings consist of various solid components (raw materials). This raw material mixture (premix) will be dispersed at higher temperatures in an extruder. Grinding and sieving process will result in the final delivery form as a powder.

The curing time and temperature is dependent on resin system and cross-linking ratio. Each system has ist individual condition. A typical example would be a curing time of 10-15min at 180°C.

Powder coatings based on polyester resins can withstand continuous exposure up to 100°C. For higher temperatures, other binder systems are recommended, for example, those based on silicone resins.

Typical thicknesses to apply powder coatings is in the range of 60 - 80µ. But it´s strongly realted to application requirements, lower and higher thicknesses are possible as well.

All additives have a certain influence of compatibility and cross-contamination. Based on our experience, we can recommend the best additive package to minimize such problems. Please get in contact with our technical service team.

Our degassing additive CERAFLOUR 964 is suitable in clear coats. This additive will eliminate pinholes and small craters which are caused by air- and moisture release. There is no negative influence on clarity / transparency.

Powder clear coats are sensitive regarding clarity / transparency. Therefore, silica carrier additives shouldn´t be used. We have a range of solid additves without silica available. Please get in contact with our technical service team to receive relevant recommendations.

BYK-3938 P is a post-add matting additive for powder coatings. The usage is very simple, just dry-blending / mixing with finished powder coat. Depending on dosage level, medium to low goss can be achieved.

To achieve improved easy-to-clean properties, a lower surface energy of the cured powder coat will help. There are options to influence this with additives. Please get in contact with our technical service team.

Some of our additives are used to improve  polyester resins or epoxy resins. For better flow and leveling properties we can recommend BYK- 361 N or BYK-356. Both additives will also improve compatibility of the final powder coat. In case of degassing, our wax additive CERAFLOUR 993 will reduce  pinholes  especially in HAA systems but also in all other resin types. All these additives can be incorporated during final manufacturing process of the relevant resin type.  

BYK-3933 P will increase surface energy of all kind of powder coating systems. This will lead to better wetting and printability of liquid inks and coatings.

For gloss-reduction we can recommend some of our wax additives. The stronges efficiency offers CERAFLOUR 970. This PP wax will also provide anti-slip properties. Our PE wax CERAFLOUR 950 will also help to adjust gloss levels.  Both wax additives offer good non-blooming properties to keep the achieved gloss levels in a stable range.

Edge coverage is dependent on viscosity and will be improved by higher melt viscosity. With our rheology additives CLAYTONE and GARAMITE we offer a wide range of different possibilities. Please contact our technical service team for more detailed recommendations.

Our products BYK-360 P / BYK-368 P and BYK-3900 P are well known in the market as anti-crater and flow & leveling additives for all resin systems and all formulations. The typical dosage on total formulation is app. 1% as starting point. 

As standard leveling additive we recommend BYK-3900 P as most suitable in low bake systems for best leveling properties. As degassing  additive in low bake HAA systems our CERAFLOUR 964 will eleminate pinholes. Almost all other additives are suitable for low bake systems as well. For further details, please contact our technical service team.

BYK-3902 P as leveling  additive offers high efficiency at low film thicknesses below 50 µ.  At higher thicknesses it works well as a standard leveling additive with good performance. To improve surface appearance, BYK-3950 P will additionally help to get smoother leveling at low thicknesses.

BYK-364 P used as leveling additive in the formulation provides a higher  polarity  and this leads to improved substrate wetting of powder coatings. For improved adhesion, we recommend BYK-3941 P and BYK-3942 P. The use of those additives is dependend on resin system and substrate. Problems of insufficient substrate cleaning can be overcome by those additives. For further details, please get in contact with our technical service team.  

CERAFLOUR 1051 is a PFAS-/PTFE-free additive. It will improve abrasion-resistance.

BYK-3932 P is a PFAS-free additive. It helps in many cases to protect the surface against  scratches. BYK-3932 P provides a low COF and high slip properties. This will avoid scratches in all systems and especially in metallic powder coatings based on leafing aluminum pigments. Another option to improve scratch resistance is CERAFLOUR 1051 as PTFE-free wax additive. 

Blooming is often caused by the migration of  wax additives to the surface. In case of degassing we recommend CERAFLOUR 964. This wax additive is blooming-free and will not reduce gloss levels. Please get in contact with our technical service team in case of further requirements.

Recoatability is dependent on wetting properties and this is related to  surface tension / surface energy. A higher surface energy of the primer will lead to better wetting properties and recoatability. Therefore we recommend BYK-3933 P in such formulations. BYK-3933 P will increase the surface energy of all cured powder coating surfaces. BYK-3933 P can be used in all kind of systems and is also not only limited to primer applications.

For improved outgassing in all systems on critical substrates like galvanized steel, we recommend CERAFLOUR 961. This wax additive is used in extrusion process. In case of  post-addition we recommend CERAFLOUR 962. This additive can be blended with ready made powder coatings.

Degassing of HAA systems is a typical problem at higher thicknesses. CERAFLOUR 960 is our standard recommendation in this case. For all  low bake systems and high gloss systems we recommend CERAFLOUR 964 as non-blooming  degassing additive. Both additives will improve moisture and air release to avoid surface defects.

CERAFLOUR 967 will create a nice structure effect and can be combined with effect pigments to achieve a robust hammertone effect. BYK can provide guideline formulations on request.

BYK additive portfolio contains PFAS-/PTFE-free solutions for all kind of applications. Our additive family CLAYTONE and GARAMITE provides a wide range of texture effects in powder coatings. It is possible to use such additives seperated or as combination. This provides high flexibility to formulate according to specific needs. To get your individual recommendation, please get in contact with our technical service team.

Our processing additive range offers different wetting and dispersing additives for improved extrusion efficiency. The solid delivery form of DISPERBYK-2200 and DISPERBYK-2205 offers easy handling in powder coatings. Both additives will improve dispersing of organic pigments and carbon black pigments in extrusion. Improved color strength and higher jetness is the result of better pigment dispersing. 

BYK-3931 P will increase the anti-crater efficiency of your standard leveling additive. BYK-3931 P should be used as a synergist in combination with each other standard leveling additive. Additionally it can help to reduce cross-contamination problems between different powder coatings. It will increase the crater-robustness in all resin systems and can help to improve compatibility.

Powder coating manufacturing process is strongly dependent on equipment and all related parameters. In case of not optimized processing parameters, not optimized formulations or not optimized older equipment, our processing additives will help. BYK-3950 P is a general working additive to improve processing and throughput in all systems. BYK-3951 P is more specialized for TiO2 containing formulations. BYK-3955 P is highly recommended for all formulations with carbon black pigments. All these additives will also improve batch-to-batch consistency.